The Lincoln Assassination Conspirators: Their Confinement and Execution, as Recorded in the Letterbook of John Frederick Hartranft

by Edward Steers Jr. (Editor), Harold Holzer (Editor)

On May 1, 1865, two weeks after Abraham Lincoln's assassination, recently inaugurated president Andrew Johnson appointed John Frederick Hartranft to command the military prison at the Washington Arsenal, where the U.S. government had just incarcerated the seven men and one woman accused of complicity in the shooting. From that day through the execution of four of the accomplices, the Pennsylvania-born general held responsibility for the most notorious prisoners in American history. A strict adherent to protocol, Hartranft kept a meticulously detailed account of his experiences in the form of a letterbook. In The Lincoln Assassination Conspirators, noted Lincoln scholars Edward Steers, Jr., and Harold Holzer, in partnership with the National Archives, present this fascinating historical record for the first time with contextual materials and expert annotations, providing a remarkable glimpse behind the scenes of the assassination's aftermath.
Hartranft oversaw every aspect of the prisoners' daily lives, from making sure they were fed and kept clean to ensuring that no one communicated with them except on the written orders of Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton. In his Letterbook, Hartranft scrupulously recounts the arrival of each prisoner and describes the prison routine -- which included three simple meals a day, a twice-daily cell inspection by Hartranft himself, and frequent physical examinations by an army physician. The prisoners wore wrist and leg shackles and, controversially, most of them wore special hoods designed to isolate them from their surroundings.
When the conspirators' trial began, the nation waited eagerly for news, and many sought retribution against those they held responsible for the nation's grief. Hartranft resisted calls for both vengeance and mercy and continued to treat his notorious charges as humanely as possible, facilitating meetings with clergy and sending letters to and from family members. Yet, as his detached, detailed description of the execution of four of the conspirators shows, he did not allow emotion to impede the performance of his duty.
The legal and moral issues surrounding the conspirators' trial -- the extraordinary use of military rather than civil justice, the treatment of the accused while incarcerated, the fine line between swift and precipitous justice -- remain volatile, unsettled issues today. Hartranft's keen observations, ably analyzed by historians Steers and Holzer, will add a riveting new chapter to the story of Lincoln's assassination.

Genres: Civil War History

208 pages, Hardcover

First published March 15, 2009

Reviews

[Boots LookingLand · Rating 2 out of 5]

oh the disappointment.

on the one hand, it's nice to have a handy transcript of the letterbooks. on the other, this book provides very little insight to hartranft beyond what Gambone expounded on in his biography ~ and worse ~ it makes assertions which it then completely fails to prove.

likewise, there's very little to mine here; very little context and no theories whatsoever for some of hartranft's more puzzling omissions. the book likewise reproduces none of hancock's responses to hartranft's letters (which tell half the story!).

also, there are typos (ugh!), and several places in which, while condensing information down, completely false impressions are put forth. stanton's role in micromanagaing the prison isn't even touched on, and glaringly, there are moments when the author suggests that certain information is "not known" when it most assuredly is. the "annotations" for the letterbook merely repeat information already given in the chapters preceding (grrrr), and add very little to the understanding. no commentary whatsoever is made on the breakdown of hartranft's "meticulous" style into practically monosyllabic entries, nothing is made of all the things he doesn't bother to report (the author notes that he had the prisoners shaved, but doesn't point out that he never reports it to hancock).

for all the glowing build up in the opening of the book, praising hartranft to the skies, calling him a forgotten hero, and intimating that his role as arsenal provost was historically critical, there's no case made here for any of it. which is really too too bad because i think it's certainly true and deserves to be told. after more than 40 years of this material being handled in a rather off-hand manner (even Gambone miss-cites it!), you would think steers would really have made more of an effort to be exhaustive about its presentation.

apparently someone else will have to come along and do it.

pay the $40 and buy a copy of the microfilm instead. it will at least be complete.

[Raeanne · Rating 5 out of 5]

Interesting

I'm fascinated with lewis Powell. This is the last days of the conspirators. Sorry, I believe the only one who deserved death was JW Booth.